Carbon Trading in the United States

Forthcoming in Van Calster, G., Vandenberghe, W., and Reins, L. (eds), Research Handbook on Climate Mitigation Law, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 2014

Vermont Law School Research Paper No. 5-14

31 Pages Posted: 26 Mar 2014 Last revised: 5 Jun 2014

See all articles by Laurie Ristino

Laurie Ristino

The Johns Hopkins University

Katie Michel

Vermont Law School

Date Written: March 25, 2014

Abstract

Despite several attempts, the United States Congress has been unable to pass cap and trade legislation. Congress’ failure to regulate greenhouse gas emissions has provoked a variety of responses. For example, states have implemented regional carbon trading programs with a range of designs and varying levels of success. In addition, states and environmental organizations successfully sued to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act, a process that is continuing to unfold. Whether the resulting regulations will either preempt or, alternately, promote state and regional carbon markets remains to be seen. Meanwhile, private organizations and individuals have increasingly embraced voluntary carbon offsets, providing an example of a growing alternative to compliance markets. This chapter summarizes the ongoing experiments with carbon trading that continue to evolve in the face of weak federal leadership on climate change.

Keywords: Clean Air Act, carbon trading, carbon offset, voluntary offset market, climate change, greenhouse gas, carbon sequestration, Global Warming Solutions Act, Environmental Protection Agency, AB 32

Suggested Citation

Ristino, Laurie and Michel, Katie, Carbon Trading in the United States (March 25, 2014). Forthcoming in Van Calster, G., Vandenberghe, W., and Reins, L. (eds), Research Handbook on Climate Mitigation Law, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 2014, Vermont Law School Research Paper No. 5-14, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2414504

Laurie Ristino (Contact Author)

The Johns Hopkins University ( email )

Baltimore, MD 20036-1984
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://advanced.jhu.edu/about-us/faculty/laurie-ristino/

Katie Michel

Vermont Law School ( email )

68 North Windsor Street
P.O. Box 60
South Royalton, VT 05068
United States

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